Machine Learning for Absolute Beginners: A Plain English Introduction

The book is short and moves along fairly well. What do you get? The author gives an overview of data science that distinguishes machine learning from data mining, artificial intelligence, etc. I found this useful. He gives specific examples of how machine learning is implemented in marketing and elsewhere. Different types of algorithms, some supported by humans and some not, do the machine learning or data mining or other data science. The author does not go into great depth on these algorithms, which is consistent with his goal of providing an overview for beginners.The book has some math. Once again, I think this is included to alert a beginner that understanding and working with math is mandatory to work in this field. The author lists job titles and salary ranges for jobs in the data science/machine learning fields.If you or someone you know think that data science may be a career in which you would be interested, I recommend the book.

I purchased two introductory e-books on Machine Learning. One cost me $20 and this one cost me $3. The $20 book had 399 pages but I got so completely lost before hitting page 100 that I gave up in defeat. (My iPad Kindle app doesn’t have page numbers, so I can’t tell you exactly what page I was on but it seemed like I had been reading forever).Then I found this $3 book – Machine Learning for Absolute Beginners – was not only short but it came out as the clear winner because I was able to get through right to the end of it with ease and without confusion. So turns out I got more than my money’s worth here with this book!And on top of that, this book was clear, well-written and a definite confidence builder. The knowledge I’ve gained from this book regarding ML models and basic algorithms gives me more confidence to go back to the other more expensive book for a second attempt.In summary, if this is your first foray into Machine Learning then this here is your book! It is the perfect stepping stone to other more lengthy options.

As a beginner I felt the pace of the book was very manageable and each concept is well explained with clear points, often backed up with visual illustrations. You get a good context on what is ML, the algorithms that power ML, and guidance on further learning careers. This book is not a substitute for a textbook but would be a nice complementary resource for anyone starting out in this subject. I feel that business folks or journalists who don’t have a lot of time to sit down and learn this advanced field and who need a rapid snapshot of ML would do well to read this book. As a title geared to ‘absolute beginners’, I would not recommend to more advanced stage learners to read this book. For me though it hit the spot. Would look forward to a second title in this series if there is one.

He does a good job for beginners--great book. He also helps you see that machine learning and AI are not magic and in many cases not so useful. The book does help one get what machine learning (not really learning--just filtering) really is about.

Good for people who are really new to machine learning. All the concepts are introduced in a very simple language. Can complete the book in a day or two.

Great introduction to machine learning, which is a term that gets confused a great deal.Clear and simple, in my case, it's all I needed, but it can get you started, if you want to go deeper.

Great book! Very convenient when one would like to refresh or to get a basic understanding of some major statistical concepts.

great book. absolutely worth the investment in both time and money. yes, it an overview, but its an overview with enough meat to be useful, without a lot of the cheerleading i see in the popular press.

There is a printing error on every left hand page, meaning I am unable to read the book properly.

Nice intro, review should be at the end of the book. We resubmit rating later, when I have finished reading this book.

Nice book for those, who has just started gaining knowledge in machine learning! Also some guidelines are given to exactly go where and refer what in future at the end of the book, which I found very helpful!

Es un libro que explica lo necesario para adentrarse en el maravilloso mundo de Machine Learning. Altamente recomendable para aquellos que quieran iniciar y desconozcan los conceptos básicos.

I highly recommend this book. Concise and to the point. For a Geek like me it was a "riveting" read.